Where in the World is Sirius Black?
by A.R. Templar
Summary: Kingsley Shackelbot hunts after the fugitive Sirius Black


Ye Ol' Author's Note: This story was written for the Houses Competition 2019.

House: Gryffindor

Year: 3

Category: Standard

Prompt: [Theme] Travelling around the world (Include a minimum of three different locations)

Word Count: 1618

Where in the World is Sirius Black?

Quiet. The peaceful pastural vista held a calm which can only be found in the bucolic hills of Styria. The fleckvieh herds idly grazed on the lush green grass. If ever a rural scene could be described as serene, verily this was it. In spite of the simple elegance of this vision, like all things in this world, it was not to last.

Crack!

The auditory disturbance carried with two men, one of them was tall, standing a head above the other. His loose robes covered most of his black skin, but his bright eyes shone, and his pearly teeth stood out like stars in the night sky. The other was dressed all in black. Blond hair framed his pale, narrow features. The two immediately set about disrupting any semblance of peace as they cast spells at one another in the exchange of battle.

"Stupify!"

"Reducto!"

"Expeliarmus!"

"Crucio!"

"Pertificus Toltalis!"

The man in black dove behind a rock and cast three quick spells over his shoulder at his foe. The undaunted wizard deflected the spells and said to other, "Did you really think you could get away so easily, Smith? You are a fool, if you did."

The masked wizard did not respond, rather cast a series of spells wildly from behind his cover.

Kingsley dodged these easily and cast a vanishing spell on the rocks between him and his quarry. Nott started in surprise, leaped to his feet, and attempted to cast another curse at the auror.

"Pertificus Toltalis!" Shacklebot roared.

The spell caught the dark wizard mid-curse and he fell to the ground, his body paralyzed.

Kingsley Shacklebot strode to where the frozen criminal lay. Cuffed his hands, hoisted him upright, and apparated back to England.

Kingsley yawned as he finished writing his arrest report of Jaimie Smith. A con-artist and white-collar criminal who did not do as stellar a job of covering his tracks as he thought and was now in prison. If the man had not fought Kingsley and attempted to escaped, he probably would have been sentenced to two years in Azkaban at most. As it was, he was looking at life in prision without parole.

Glancing at the clock, Kingsley realized it was nearing Three in the morning. By rights it was now his day off, but he was desperately trying to finish any paperwork he had before taking his time off. When he came back next Monday, he would officially be promoted to Captain. As he opened his jar of floo-powder, the entire building became instantly busy with activity. Amelia Bones, and three auror Captains marched into Department of Magical Law Enforcement followed by an irate Cornelius Fudge.

"He can't have just vanished, Amelia, he must have had help!" Fudge was furiously twirling his green bowler hat.

"Are you seriously accusing Dumbledore of releasing Black, Minister?" Bones questioned. "The man escaped from Azkaban! I think he is quite capable of escaping a school."

"No one is above suspicions, Amelia. Black has escaped again and must be apprehended at all costs."

The small party stopped when they saw Kingsley at his desk.

"Shacklebot," Madam Bones said, "come to my office too."

The tall wizard did as he was bid and followed into Bone's office.

Once inside, Bones cut right to the chase.

"Bringing you up to speed, Shacklebot, Black was apprehended on the Hogwarts grounds, in the close proximity of Harry Potter, by the dementors and escaped from Hogwarts Castle sometime tonight. He's still Undesirable No. 1 and considered armed and extremely dangerous. Minister Fudge suspects outside help, but as he is not an Auror, his personal opinions carry little consequence." The man in question bristled at the slight. "That said, Perkins, you're off the Black Case. Shackelbot, you're on, your promotion effective immediately. I want results and I want them quickly." Bones sat down behind her desk and sighed, "I want you and your team to cover every option, where he might go, who might be some his friends from You-Know-Who's day, et cetera.

"Good luck, Captain. Gentlemen, it's late and I know we'll all be busy in the morning. As such, I bid you good night."

* * *

Two weeks had gone by since Black's second escape, and Kingley's team had yet to uncover hide nor hair of the man. The investigation and interrogations of the Hogwarts staff proved utterly unhelpful. The only one offering any pertinent information was Snape, but his testimony could hardly be considered accurate. Lupin, Snape's first suspect, had an alibi that was water tight. Dumbledore had witnesses to testify on his whereabouts the entire night. It had not helped his investigations any, when one of his Aurors, admitted that Black was a relative. Once word about Tonks' connection Fudge demanded she be pulled from investigations. Bones was forced to oblige, and left Kingsley's team undermanned, and they had to reinvestigate all of Tonks' work. The result was two weeks investigations and nothing to show for it.

"Captain! Captain!" Kingsley ran out of his office to see Auror Blackhorne running his way in excitement. "We got a hit! Black's been sighted!"

"Where?" eight Aurors suddenly sprinted to the briefing room. Kingsley and Blackhorne bringing up the end as the Auror reported to Kingsley the findings.

"Alright, people," Kingsley addressed as he stood in the front of the tables, "Black's been sighted in Gibraltar. Three witnesses have testified to his appearance, and their description all match. We'll be going by way of portkey in one hour's time. Get ready."

The team fell to the Portkey drop point in Gibraltar. The giant rock stood above the town, lording over the people as if it was Olympus itself. The Gibraltar Auror debriefed Kingsley on the whereabouts of Black's last sighting.

"Three muggles swore they saw a giant eagle fly into St. Michael's Caves this morning. Shortly after, two of our men said they saw Black walking around on the Rock."

"Where are the caves?" Kingsley asked.

"Follow me, sir, I'll take you to them. We've closed the cave to tourists for the day. Told the muggles that it was in need of emergency maintenance."

The Aurors walked up to the mouth of a cave on the western side of the Rock. Entering the cave took Kingsley's breath away. The rock formations in the wonder of nature cave the appearance of an entrance to Hades' underworld realm. The muggles had taken to building an auditorium inside it, but as the Auror's walked deeper into the cave, Kingsley understood why it was called "bottomless."

"Captain."

Kingsley stopped, and saw one of his team holding a giant feather.

"It's a hippogriff's!"

That solved one mystery. Black must have stolen the hippogriff way from Hagrid's garden and used it as a means of escape. Walking deeper into the cave, Kingsley and his men raised their wands prepared for an attack by Black.

"What the—"

Black was standing up petting the hippogriff. With a cry of alarm, the fugitive jumped on the back of the beast, drew his wand, fired three quick hexes, and charged the giant horse-eagle at the Aurors.

"Stupify!" Multiple voices shouted, but none hit their mark as the Aurors dove for cover. The hippogriff's talons slashed, and wings beat the air as it ran full speed through the cave. Kingsley chased after Black, but the magical creature and criminal were already flying out of the cave and into the sky.

"Bullocks."

* * *

Three weeks since Gibraltar, and not so much as a hint of Black's location. Three times they followed a lead that led to a dead end. Bones was growing impatient, Fudge was growing irritable, and the team tired of goose chases, and all of them directing their frustration at him. Once again, he was sitting in his office, the last person in the Investigations division who had not gone home. Suddenly a letter shot through the floo. Grabbing the note, he read

We have Black cornered: Montego Bay, Jamaica. Come now.

-Colonel Jean LaPointe. InterMag

Kingsley did not hesitate, he picked up his wand of the desk, grabbed a fist of floo-powder, and stepped into the fireplace.

Jean LaPointe met Kingsley as soon as he crossed into Jamaica.

"He's hiding out in an abandoned building off of the beach." LaPointe explained, "we have the building under surveillance. Anti-Apparation wards are up."

"You're sure it's him?" Kingsley asked.

"Positive. Our sources are very reliable."

"If you're wrong—"

"I am not!" the InterMag agent said indignantly.

Kingsley stood outside of the shack. The Auror on the stake out brought Kingsley up to date on things.

"He was chased into the building by an Auror at about 1900 hours. He put up the wards at 1901 and at 1902 a black dog ran out of the building. 1907 two cats went in. 1918 the cats left. At 1923 the dog came back, stuck his nose in the building and left again. Since then that hasn't been any movement. Black's in there, Sir."

"How many men do you have?"

"Seven local Aurors, plus four InterMag agents, and you," LaPointe replied.

Nodding, Kingsley motioned for the Aurors to move in. Kicking the door in they shot of at least three dozen stunners between them all. When the haze from the spells cleared. Kingsley looked in to see Black, only he was not there. The shack was empty.

"What the bloody hell?" he cursed

"Merlin's Beard!" LaPointe exclaimed.

Kingsley turned on LaPointe, "Next time you swear you have the bastard, you'd better be prepared to make an unbreakable vow!" He stormed out of the shack and returned to England. Looking at the map in his office, Kingsley asked himself, "Where in the world is Sirius Black?"


End file.
